A study by US scientists has highlighted the need for new respirators for firefighters.
Although firefighters usually wear self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) when tackling structural fires, this is a much less common practice when dealing with vehicle fires. The potential health risk from vehicle fire fumes is considered minimal, as the fires are outdoors and are usually extinguished rapidly. In addition, SCBA is cumbersome to wear and takes a long time to put on.
However, Kenneth Fent and his team at the US Public Health Service and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, have shown that firefighters are actually exposing themselves to almost ten times the acceptable level of 75 volatile organic compounds, including benzene, acetonitrile and acetone.
The measure of risk to a mixture of chemicals was found to be 9.2 times the acceptable amount
Link to journal article
Assessing the risk to firefighters from chemical vapors and gases during vehicle fire suppression
Kenneth W. Fent and Douglas E. Evans, J. Environ. Monit., 2011
DOI: 10.1039/c0em00591f
